Coming Of Age
by isobeljones2000
Summary: A series of oneshots exploring the early life of Lexi and Varg when they first headed out into space on the Zarantulus, and how they grew up and came of age over time.
1. Their Future Home

_Another one of Lexi as a child, but this time as a Nekross! She is so cute and evil._

 _Using the prompt: 'Use repetition in your writing today. Do it super obviously, like "airplane airplane airplane."_

"Varg?"

"Varg...?"

"Vaaarg...?"

"What?!"

"Varg?" the persistent voice asked again, regardless of his icy glare directed at her, his sister's high childlike tones penetrating his eardrums despite his prior valiant efforts to ignore her. She had been following him around most of the morning now, watching and chatting to him as he performed errands for their father.

"What do you want?" Varg enquired, hostility in his voice. Perhaps a little louder than he had intended, actually, because Lexi picked up on his temper change instantly.

"No need to shout, brother," she reprimanded. "I'm only here."

"That's the problem..." Varg sighed.

Lexi fell silent for a treasured few seconds, where Varg took the chance to quickly punch in some commands into one of the practice keyboards on the Flight Deck. They were currently on the prototype version of what was to be their future home: the Starship Zarantulus. Varg had been instructed to get to know it, work on the equipment that they would be using when they went off into space so he was capable of driving the ship if he needed to.

"Nekron's obsessed with magic," Lexi commented somewhat randomly.

"That's because they need it for food," Varg explained shortly, trying to ignore her again.

The young girl contemplated this statement for a moment or two. "Magic magic magic magic magic," she sung suddenly.

Varg cocked his head slightly. "Why are you saying that?"

"That's how obsessed Nekron are with magic," Lexi explained wisely, as if this explanation was all the sense he needed. "Magic magic magic magic magic magic magic. Magic magic magic. That's all they say. More magic. More, more, more magic. Never enough."

"Is that right?" Varg asked sarcastically.

Lexi smiled. "Magic magic magic magic magic magic," she agreed.

"God, you're annoying," Varg grunted irritably.

Lexi smiled so innocently. "Who, me? I'm just helping you! Daddy said I could!"

"Some help you are," Varg retorted. "Running around and singing hardly counts as labour."

"They're not _my_ chores," Lexi said sweetly. "I'm just giving you some incentive. Plus Daddy told me that I should get used to my new home before we move in. Is that right, Varg? Is this our new home?"

"Yup," Varg informed her.

Lexi wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure I like it."

"Well it's lucky you don't have a choice in the matter, then," Varg said.

"Will we still be able to hunt?" Lexi asked hopefully. "I love doing that with you, Varg."

Varg felt suddenly wistful. By this becoming their new permanent home, they would be leaving behind the lush expanses of Nekron and the rich hunting grounds for - this small dark spaceship. It was hardly a just comparison.

But from the earnest look on his baby sister's face, Varg knew that she didn't have to see that harsh reality yet. So he avoided Lexi's eyes when he answered her, unable to witness the expression of hope in them. "We'll be able to hunt," he lied.

"Yay!"

 _She'll have forgotten by the time we're actually on the spaceship,_ Varg told himself.

The six year old jumped up and down a few times restlessly, trying out her new armour and making a face when she realised her usually free movement was restricted by the confines of the stiff interior. All Nekross got their first set of armour when they were six or seven years of age, and Lexi had had hers fitted yesterday. Really, it wasn't surprising that she was bouncing off the walls today, after the long periods of sitting still the previous one.

"I can't move," she complained.

"You'll get used to it," Varg told her bluntly. He wasn't really in the mood for comforting his six year old sister; he had work to do.

"But I want to run, and hunt," Lexi said sadly. "I can't do that in this."

"Every Royal Nekross gets their armour," Varg told her. "You're no exception."

"But I don't like it," Lexi complained petulently.

 _I don't like it either,_ Varg wanted to tell her, but it was his job (unfortunately) to try and train his innocent younger sister into the harsh regime of adult Nekross life. That age was getting lower and lower all the time, and Lexi would be expected to perform like an adult at the age of twelve.

"No wonder you look so uncomfortable all the time," Lexi mused. "You're forever stuck in these contraptions."

"You'll get used to it," Varg repeated distractedly, his attention focused on the screen which he was typing commands into. He had been taught when he turned ten how to operate the monitors, as a preparation for when he and his family were sent out into space to find magic for Nekron. The current royal family were in disarray at the moment, Varg knew that. Something about someone killing his own brother and usurping the throne. He had a feeling it was Dad, but it wasn't his place to question him.

The age for leaving Nekron in search of magic, as all the royal families did, was technically supposed to be twelve, but Varg was only eleven and he was fairly sure they would be sent out any day now. Nekron was too weak to sustain itself without supplies for long, and they were the only royal family eligible.

He pitied his sister though. She was only six, and would doubtless be sent out with the rest of them. That wasn't remotely within the regulations, but the High Council wouldn't bat an eyelid. Not when they were slowly starving like the rest of them.

Did anyone deserve that life from such a young age?

"Varg?" His sister's voice repeated again cheekily. When he looked around he saw that the screen he was next to had filled with garbled Nekross language, and he saw that Lexi had punched in some random commands and was grinning wickedly at him.

"Why, you -!" Varg swiped at her; she dodged his blow effortlessly, laughing and running away across the Flight Deck, albeit awkwardly due to her Nekross armour. "Magic magic magic magic magic..." she sung as she fled.

Maybe he didn't pity her _that_ much after all.


	2. Early Measurements

_A_ / _N) Here is the last chapter's prequel - if that makes any sense. It's set the day before, when Lexi was getting her armour measured and fitted, mainly because I got curious about what she would actually be like. Hope you enjoy!_

 _Using the prompt: "Write a scene that uses the word 'wriggle'."_

"Hold _still_ , Lexi!"

The adult female Nekross fought to maintain her steely grip on the six year old's shoulder, who was squirming and jumping around restlessly as she was measured by the other, younger female Nekross. It was evident that Lexi knew what she was being let in for - and she didn't seem to like the prospect of it.

The armour was blue and metallic. It was a daunting item looming ominously in the corner of the room, with criss-crossed embellished chest plates on the front and large clumpy boots to accompany it. Armour suitable for a princess of Nekron, Luria thought with satisfaction. Not that the squirming six year old was acting much like it currently.

"Don't wriggle, Lexi!" the princess's nurse told her sternly. Lexi didn't show any signs that she had actually heard Luria's command, and tried to shake off the grip on her shoulders.

"Lexi!" Luria snapped sharply for the fifth or sixth time, yanking Lexi back to her side as she tried to wander off. "Let her measure you, for the last time!"

"So I can be put into _that_?" Lexi flashed a dark look at the hated armour, which she imagined growling at her in a deep rasping tone. "No, thank you. It's scary. And looks uncomfortable."

"You are of royal blood! Anyway, the Nekross abandoned superstition millennia ago. It's illogical to be scared," Luria argued. "You are privileged to get armour such as this. Anyway, every Nekross has their armour fitted at your age. It's your turn now."

Lexi scowled. "Can't I wait?"

"No you cannot," her nurse said adamantly. "You've had all your medical checks, and you're getting to just the right size now. All the other little girls will be getting theirs too, round about this time."

The princess made a very undignified 'hmph' noise that detailed her feelings on this statement, and folded her arms defiantly.

"Now we'll have none of that," Luria reprimanded. "You'll get used to your armour eventually."

"Everyone says that. No one says they actually like their armour," Lexi noted.

"You don't have to like it," Luria informed her. "You just have to wear it."

At this point Lexi flung out both arms hard, one hitting Luria in her chest plate. It took both female Nekross to grab both of the princess's shoulders and restrain her from running away. Lexi was a very fast runner, and a hard girl to catch when she was away.

"Good luck with getting her into that," Varg commented from the doorway, just his head visible from around the frame. Luria hadn't realised he was there watching, and she jumped as she heard his sarcastic voice.

"Varg! How long have you been there?" she questioned the eleven year old boy.

Varg shrugged, raising an eyebrow at his furiously wriggling sister. "Long enough. Having some trouble, are we?"

"- Princess - Lexi - is having a little trouble adjusting to her status," Luria spat as Lexi nearly managed to escape her grip again. "She doesn't want to get into her armour."

"Can you blame her?" Varg questioned with a grin. "It's not exactly the most promising of rituals when you're young and carefree."

"Two traits that have no place in Nekross expectations," said Luria. "Apparently Lyzera stepped willingly into her first set of armour."

"That hardly surprises me," Varg mused, thinking of the female Nekross who he was apparently destined to marry in the future, and who he knew was very refined and polite - unlike his headstrong sister.

Lexi ducked quickly and managed to escape the grasp of both Nekross nurses, and fled towards the door. If Varg hadn't been in her way she probably would have managed to get out. But Varg caught her firmly by both shoulders, and ignored her kicks and screams of Nekross curses that she really shouldn't have known at this age. Both nurses darted towards her once more, and the unwilling Lexi was dragged towards the set of armour.

"We'll have no more of that when you're clad in full armour!" spat Luria. "You won't be running anywhere fast any more, not when you've got the armour on! Then we'll see you try to escape."

Varg heard his younger sister's gasp and saw the sudden fear in her eyes at the prospect of actually wearing the clunky restrictive suit. She knew that you didn't do the things you used to when you came of age, mainly because it was nearly impossible to run and climb and bend in the armour.

As the two nurses wrestled the still-fighting girl into the back plates of the armour mould, Varg came and pressed a firm hand down on Lexi's chest, making it impossible for her to move. Her eyes met his pleadingly, as though begging him to help her, but Varg knew he couldn't. Everyone had to wear the armour sooner or later, and the earlier you learnt, the better.

Triumphantly the nurses began to clip the front plates down over Lexi's chest, and the young princess was effectively immobilized in the deep blue suit as both female Nekross attached first the leg plates, then the arm plates to the suit. One nurse enclosed Lexi's feet in the large heavy boots that swamped her small feet. It was all over in a matter of moments; all of the protective armour plates were fastened over the six year old's body, leaving Lexi trapped in the full Nekross armour suit.

"There, isn't that better?" the nurse enquired with a slightly forced smile, directing the question at Lexi

There was still defiance in the girl's eyes as she struggled to move inside the suit, but that expression was quickly replaced by one of dull acceptance as she realised there was no chance of escaping now. Varg felt sorry for her, but he knew there was nothing anyone could do. She would get used to it over time. It took him a while to adjust too, but adjust he did.

"I'll be in the Zarantulus control room if you need me," Varg said quietly before leaving the room, not meeting Lexi's eyes, anticipating the unforgiving expression that would be in them.

They may not be able to escape the coming of age rituals.

It didn't mean they were right.


	3. Sent Off Into Space

_A/N) This story originally started off as a oneshot, then became a twoshot, but then I realised that I actually wanted to continue this, so it's now a series of oneshots focusing on Varg and Lexi's early life! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

"Varg, I don't want to leave."

"Well, it's slightly too late now," Varg commented, turning to look somewhat pityingly at his younger sister, who was looking thoughtful as she explored the surface of one of the new prototype ray guns that they had all been issued. "After all, we leave in just under ten minutes. You left it quite late for objections, sister."

The young princess fixed plaintive blue eyes on him. "But I don't want to leave," she repeated insistently. "I like it here! Nekron is our home."

"And we, as its royal prince and princess, have a solemn duty to go out into the stars in search of sustenance for our home planet," Varg reminded her, as he had already done what seemed like a thousand times since Lexi had been told of their duty to their planet and their king.

Lexi sniffed, looking around the unfamiliar blue-panelled room that they had been instructed to wait in before the ceremony. "But we're just halflings," she pointed out. "Nurse Luria said I was barely more than a hatchling the other day."

"I think that was her way of trying to comfort you," the prince told her, inwardly rolling his eyes at their overly brusque Nekross nurse. "I'm not sure exactly how that was supposed to help a six year old prepare for what we have to do, but I'm sure she meant well."

Lexi frowned slightly, her forehead crinkling up cutely. "But I thought that I wasn't allowed to go out with you and the others. I was reading the Nekron High Council History the other day -"

"As I suppose a six year old does for light reading," interrupted Varg, raising his eyebrows, though he couldn't say he was all that surprised any more at what his younger sister appeared capable of.

"It was the only thing I could find to read that I hadn't already read," Lexi told him simply. "Anyway, it said that it's a traditional coming of age ritual for the royal family, when their prince or princess turn twelve, for the royals to travel out in search of magic to feed their planet."

"So you know exactly what we're doing," Varg said shortly. "That's good. Now we really need to go. We're expected to be climbing on board the Zarantulus any minute now, in front of thousands of our father's people."

Lexi didn't appear to be listening. "But last time I checked, I'm definitely only still six, and you only just turned eleven. That's against the rules!"

"Yeah, well, rules don't seem to matter all that much when you're a starving race," he commented sagely. Varg adjusted the shoulder plates on his sapphire blue armour and blinked at himself in the large mirror across the room. A slightly nervous looking, not quite adult Nekross with paler yellow scales blinked solemnly back in the reflection.

"But I don't want to be sent off into space!" Lexi protested for a third time.

Varg knelt down and met her eyes with his own dark brown ones, in an uncharacteristic display of emotion towards his usually annoying baby sister. "I know. Me neither. But it's our duty to. You'll get used to it."

Lexi tried to shrug as much as she could in the clunky blue armour, dropping her gaze to her boot-clad feet. She was young, but she wasn't in any way stupid. She knew he was stuck in this as much as she was. "Yes, Varg."

Suddenly a door opened in the corner and Luria hurried in, her tentacles wriggling frantically in her stress as she made for the two youngest members of the royal family, grabbing both by the shoulders. "Everyone's waiting for you! We must go now! Quick!" She pulled Varg and Lexi to the door and, barely giving them chance to collect their nerves that Varg had been trying to summon up all afternoon, shoved them out into the unknown.

Raucous cheers erupted from all around as the crowds noticed their royals' arrival and responded with applause and excited calling. It was always a big moment when royal families went out into the vastness of space, as was traditional, in the new spaceships specially designed each time for the purpose. And right at the end of the interminably long walkway that seemed to stretch on for miles ahead of them, flanked at either side by thousands of cheering Nekross, there sat the Starship Zarantulus, which would apparently come to be their new home. Even though they had spent the last few weeks getting used to the spaceship, from this distance it still looked like a large malignant bug, squatting grimly at the end of the long blue-carpeted walkway. Varg forced his gaze away from it, and tried to smile weakly at the large crowd. He just felt dizzy at the many indistinguishable faces gazing earnestly back up at him, shouting his name amongst various other Nekross sayings.

"Walk!" hissed Luria discreetly behind them, and Varg began to walk up the long blue walkway, followed by rows of ceremonial guards, his sister following nervously at his heels. He could feel her shaking even through her armour and his own, and couldn't help but feel sorry for his baby sister, thrust into such an intimidating situation at this age. When he was six he was still only learning basic skills that would formulate his future commanding role. Would he have had the nerve to do all this when he was only six, nearly half the age that he was now? Probably not.

"Varg, I want to go home," murmured Lexi against his armoured leg.

"We are home," brusquely replied the prince as he tried to smile at the crowds all around him, though all he wanted to do was curl up somewhere and ignore the deafening sound of his entire race, depending on him and his strength. A halfling's strength, no less. A halfling and a barely-hatchling to save their starving race.

"Please." He wasn't sure who she was pleading with, or what exactly she was asking for, but he had to ignore the fear in his younger sister's eyes as she tried to put her gloved hands over her ears to block out some of the noise. Luria was swift to notice and firmly pulled both her arms down by her sides, trying to smile sweetly but giving a death stare to the defiant halfling.

The walk lasted years. Varg stumbled a few times, his feet seeming overly heavy and arduous to move, but mercifully he managed to make it to the end of the walkway where the Zarantulus loomed close now, its dark interior seeming to beckon him in with clawing tendrils. Lexi clung to his hand now, which Luria had tried to object to but hadn't been able to prise the fearful princess from her brother's reassuring hold. At their nurse's muttered instruction, Varg stopped and turned to meet the eyes of a million people, all cheering his name and glorying the might of Nekron. He tried to feel excited, proud that he was so powerful like his father, but all he could feel was the terrified grip of the surprisingly strong Lexi on his hand and the knowledge that they wouldn't see their home planet again for a very long time.

"The speech," smiled Luria in his ear, though it was clear she hadn't used a forced smile for a while. She managed to finally extricate Lexi's determined hold from his hand, and carried the now unresisting princess back a little way as Varg stepped forward to the sight of his people.

Varg gulped. Here was the moment he had been dreading. He was the heir. He was therefore responsible for the weight of the planet on his shoulders. And he therefore had to perform the traditional leaving speech.

"My father is regrettably unable to be here today to perform this ritual himself," Varg announced, his voice amplified a hundred times around the huge expanse of ground where so many Nekross were packed in. In reality the Nekross King was being - installed into the specially designed new home for him on board the Zarantulus, although it would take a while before he was fit for duty processing magic after the move. So until his father was sufficiently ready to greet his people, Varg was next in charge. "But I know he is thinking of every one of you, his loyal citizens, as we prepare to make the dizzying leap ever further into the depths of space than Nekross have ever traversed before." He had learnt the words by heart, and had spent the last few sleepless nights going over every syllable, engraving them into his native tongue so there was no chance of getting them wrong. The speech didn't really differ all that much to the one made years before it, or the one previous to that, which just served really to add pressure to getting it right.

Lexi sniffed softly beside him, managing to escape Luria's hold somehow and moving back to his side, seemingly unaware that millions of Nekross were watching her. Still, there was nothing they could do now. Varg quickly gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, though he was already searching his mind frantically for the next section of the speech. His mind had gone blank. "I will miss every aspect of Nekron," he found himself saying honestly, though no such thing existed on the script. Luria gave a quick, pained intake of breath from behind him, but Varg pressed bravely on. If any of the intent Nekross in the crowd had noticed his breach of the usual speech, they made no apparent reaction as Varg found himself searching the familiar landscape of his home planet with his eyes, fully visible from his current position. The lush green meadows, and the excellent hunting, and the happy times he had spent as a halfling growing up alongside his annoying younger sister who now clung to his side, forced alongside him in their mission into the stars.

Nekron was his home. He would never cease to miss it. But this was his duty. And he found himself actually believing in what he was saying for the first time, as he ended the speech with the familiar words, drilled into them from hatching. "We shall find magic in the stars, and the Nekross shall feast forever more!"

The crowds erupted in applause, once more, and Varg found himself suddenly able to breathe again as he collapsed back from the edge of the walkway, towards where Luria was standing with folded arms, guards all around. He expected his stern nurse to chastise him for the breach in the clearly scripted speech, but Luria only lay a hand on his shoulder and murmured: "Well done," into his ear. Varg supposed he hadn't done so badly after all.

"Now the royals will enter the new, specially designed Starship Zarantulus, to ascend into space and begin their mission," announced a voice over the loudspeakers. Obediently, Varg turned to meet the spaceship, only metres away now. He turned back once, and Lexi searched the familiar, beautiful landscapes of Nekron from under his arm for the final time. "Varg, I'm scared," she whispered to him, the words just discernible from the deafening cheers of the public.

Varg took in the last sight of his home planet, then turned resolutely, away from the cheers and the eyes and the overwhelming pressure sitting on his not-quite fully grown shoulders, meeting Lexi's fearful blue eyes with his own. "Me too," he admitted quietly.

"Come on," Luria ordered sternly, and Varg, with Lexi right beside him, stepped up into the dark interior of the spaceship which would come to be their home for the next eleven years, letting themselves be enveloped by the unknown as they left their familiar, loved planet behind.


	4. Early Days

_After all this time, my love for this show has unexpectedly been rekindled and I appear to be back on the writing scene for this fandom. However, my interest has waned from focusing on Tom and Lexi now (although they will always hold a special place in my heart, and my story concepts tend to be more around Varg and Lexi, who have always been my favourite characters really_ _?_

 _I hope you enjoy!_

It's already the fifth day.

Five days wandering aimlessly around in their new home, getting lost in the labyrinth of corridors, lit only by a dully pulsating blue light that Varg is sure is designed only to make this alien environment even more bewildering to the stranger on the ship. Five days of trying to avoid the Flight Deck, five days of desperately missing the warmth and familiarity of his home planet, five days of trying to hide from the seemingly all-seeing gaze of his still silent father, who is really just a stranger to him and to his sister. Five days of trying not to think of what is still to come.

In their frequent transmissions back home – Varg forced to be the spokesperson, as if no-one else has a voice on this accursed spaceship – their senior council have reluctantly concurred that some element of compassion may be taken into account. Although Varg obediently memorises and parrots off the speech in the form of regular progress reports back to the Royal Court of Nekron, it's not a wholly convincing show of confidence, and it's fairly easy to detect the nerves in the shaking prince as he gabbles off clichés that Luria whispers into his ear. By the third day and four nerve-racking transmissions later, the Court agrees that the new royal heirs should be allowed some adjustment time to their new spaceship, after three days having been spent racing around trying to check if they truly have everything required for their lengthy voyage.

Varg's not sure if he didn't prefer being busy. At least it didn't mean that he was alone with the thoughts of a scared eleven-year-old rattling around his cranium, getting constantly lost and having to sheepishly radio an irritable Luria to come and find him.

After this occurred yet again, Luria had firmly sat the young prince down in a seat at one of the blinking computer monitors and told him to do something useful. What that useful exploit was supposed to be, Varg still isn't entirely sure, but staring at a screen instead of out at the swirling constellations does have some merits. The Flight Deck is only slightly better illuminated than the surrounding passages, but Varg prefers it here, where the deep thrum of the Zarantulus' engines seems to resonate through the floor and up into the panels of his deep blue armour, where he can feel the sensation buzzing through his chest. He sits fingering the lethal-looking spikes that had recently been grafted onto the shoulder plates of his armour in preparation for the rite of passage (adornments fit for a future king, Luria had assured him), and trying not to think about trees or hunting or the wide open expanses of the musky-red sky that must now glow over Nekron's evening.

As the prince swings his legs from the seat, lost in forbidden thought, Luria strides up to him, her tentacles lashing from side to side as if to prove the agitation that her frowning features don't already connote. He hadn't noticed her enter. "One of the junior technicians is throwing a tantrum," his former nurse fumes. "As if I don't have enough halflings to babysit right now."

Varg takes the chance to glance fleetingly across the Flight Deck, where a huddled form can indeed just be made out by the entrance to one of the corridors that from what he can ascertain leads to the maintenance rooms. "What's wrong with him?" he asks somewhat unnecessarily, as if it's not the same thing wrong with all of them.

Luria's scowl deepens. "Homesick. Refuses to put his helmet back on, apparently. Typical whiny halfling."

The prince chooses not to search for a suitable retort to the 'whiny halfling' comment, well aware that it is one his grumpy Nekross nurse has utilised towards him more than once before. "We can hardly blame him," he simply says.

The nurse huffs dubiously and goes to bash out a couple of commands on one of the keyboards at the other side of the Flight Deck, muttering something darkly about her job description.

In a couple of years' time it will be perfectly natural, of course, and all the technicians will be adults having completed their training and perfectly capable of carrying out their duty as a royal unit, but until then, they're just a group of frightened children out on a spaceship all alone. It was only a matter of time before at least one of them decided this lonely existence wasn't how they wanted to spend their life. Looking at the cowering junior technician, heavy helmet discarded beside him as he cries incoherently in the corner, Varg is honestly surprised it hadn't been him.

Luria stomps back in his direction, just as he registers the presence of his sister slipping in beside him, fitting in the slim gap between his armour and the monitor. He hadn't noticed her come in either – is he really that distracted or are people just getting quieter these days? "Hey," he offers gruffly to what he can see of her scaled head past the new spikes of his shoulder pads.

Lexi drops her gaze to her armoured boots. "Hey," she murmurs back, her impassive tone very uncharacteristic of the typical bounciness of his usually annoying sibling.

Of all the people, the youngest member on the ship, Lexi is the one who seems to have taken the change most in her stride. That being said, she's been oddly quiet these past few days. Not crying or anything, just… quiet.

Their nurse's expression has darkened even further as she reaches them. "Now one of the technician units – Beta Grex 4, I believe – haven't turned up for their morning maintenance practice checks," she spits. "Do I have to do _everything_ myself?"

Varg's tentacles tense at the open hostility emanating from his elder Nekross nurse. "I didn't sign up for this," Luria laments, coming over to the monitor that Varg sits at and leaning heavily against it, her anger suddenly evaporating with an exhausted sigh. "I didn't sign up for being on a spaceship already 20 light years away from home."

 _Me neither._ Varg remembers how excited everyone had been as they took off for the first time, the cheering muted through the Zarantulus walls yet still so deafeningly loud. Luria had smiled so genuinely then, proud that she was to accompany the Nekross royal family during the beginning of their voyage out into the stars. Rows of junior technicians had marched their way in formation up into the ship and filled the Flight Deck with Varg and Lexi at the forefront, waving for what seemed like hours out to the masses as the doors closed finally upon their planet.

Was that only five days ago? Varg fancies he can still hear the cheering if he listens carefully. Yet it seems like an eternity.

"It's all right for you halflings really," Luria snarls. "In a couple of years' time, you won't even probably remember what your home planet looks like. Halflings' memories fade. While me – I spent my entire childhood growing up on Nekron. Nekron is my home."

Varg struggles to bite back a retort that he knows he will only get admonished for.

"And now that any adult technicians are supposedly so busy checking the engines and the Zanti Scale levels, apparently it's my job to console the junior ones." Luria's not really talking to him, she's just letting off some steam. Varg is used to it. "They told me about the glory of Nekron and the joy of traversing the star systems. They did _not_ tell me about wiping the tears off halflings' tentacles and having to deal with constantly putting on a bright smile for the Royal Court transmissions. As if we've achieved anything yet!"

"It's early days," Varg says quietly, although all of these thoughts have flitted through his mind more than once before.

"Just because halflings can't seem to grasp the relatively simple concept that _we're never going home_ ," Luria continues to rant blindly, even as Varg flashes her a look of warning, realising his younger sister is still stood next to them, listening in on every word.

But it's too late to even try and take it back as Lexi's eyes widen, imperceptible emotions flickering over the six-year-old's face like the twist of a kaleidoscope.

The nurse softens for a second, realising the harsh truth that she's just unwittingly revealed to the six-year-old, who really should have no idea what is really going on. But the moment passes, and Luria's callous frown returns to her features. "What? She might as well know. It's her journey as well – and by the looks of things she doesn't have much more hope than the rest of us of ever seeing Nekron again."

He expects her face to crumple. He expects Lexi's face to crumple and her blue eyes to shine bright with tears as she stares up at him, willing her older brother to deny it, to try and convince her it's not true.

Neither happens.

Luria, apparently heedless of the bombshell she's just casually dropped – though she is careful to avoid looking at the princess' face too closely – non-too-gently nudges past Varg, her tentacles winding their way towards the weeping technician on the floor. "Ah well. It is what it is, I suppose. I had better go and attempt to console the dismal halfling – much good it'll do any of us."

"Let me." Lexi's voice is small, but resolute as she stares steadfastly in the same direction, her eyes still so blue yet peculiarly distant.

Luria gives her an odd look. "I'm sorry?"

"Let me talk to him," the girl insists. Varg is surprised to find she is already pushing past his chest-plate, moving towards the darkened periphery without waiting for any further confirmation of intent.

"But Princess Lexi, you are not supposed to fraternise with the junior technicians on the ship…"

Luria's instruction, as usual, is lost on deaf ears.

The resident adult sighs a sigh of defeat. "Oh, whatever. It's hardly as if anyone will listen to me anyway. Maybe the princess will have more luck."

And as he watches his younger sister sit quietly by the silently sobbing technician, tentacles furling sympathetically as she murmurs words of false comfort, Varg can't help but notice how much his younger sister appears to have matured in just a matter of days. What this mission has forced them both to become: adults, even as mere halflings.

Coming of age suddenly isn't what it used to be.


End file.
